Book

Description

View of a Mayan statue, which has fallen on its left side and lies in tropical marshland, as a deer comes running by. This sculpture is described as follows by the author:

This idol, in its ruined state, is one of the most beautiful in Copan; and in workmanship, is equal to the best remains of Egyptian art. Its present condition may give some idea of the scene of desolation and ruin presented at Copan. The whole region is an overgrown forest; and, amidst the prostration and wreck of buildings and terraces, one “idol” is seen displaced from its pedestal hy monstrous roots,—another locked in the close embrace of branches of trees, and almost lifted out of the earth,—and another hurled to the ground, and bound down hy large vines and creepers; of this, the fallen part was thus completely bound to the earth, and, before it could be drawn, it was necessary to unlace them, and tear the fibres out of the crevices. This fallen statue is of about the same dimensions with the others. The paint is very perfect, and has preserved the stone which makes it more to be regretted that it is broken. The altar is buried, with the top barely visible, which, by excavating we made out to represent the back of a tortoise.